


trial by fire

by captainharkness



Series: the adventures of smith, jones and harkness [2]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Ten/Jack mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 18:04:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16837669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainharkness/pseuds/captainharkness
Summary: She shrugged as if her confession didn’t feel like absolution, like warmth rushing over his entire being.Martha and Jack have a talk, in which Jack is uncharacteristically quiet and Martha is... well, Martha is the hero of everyone's story.





	trial by fire

**Author's Note:**

> It was very important to me to churn this one out before I start posting the next multi-chapter instalment, because the show and the fandom's treatment of Martha's feelings prior to LOTTL is one of Who's greatest crimes. I hope that I can portray the Doctor, Jack and Martha's relationship as a healthy, conducive one!

The observation deck of the TARDIS was the only windowed area on the ship, accessible by a door hidden below the centre console. After climbing an absurdly tall ladder, one would reach the deck, a small room at first glance, but with a high raised floor with just two feet of space between it and the shatterproof cryon glass. The Doctor rarely used it, but Martha had taken climbing up to read, or simply watch the stars go by as they drifted in space.

That Martha had commandeered this area of the ship was obvious; when Jack had first travelled with the Doctor and Rose, it had been plain, almost dusty with disuse. However, it was more recently filled with a smattering of cushions, a stack of books, and an oversized knitted blanket.

“Permission to board?” he called out from the stairs to the raised floor.

Martha raised her head in surprise, but there was a smile on her face, “Permission granted, sailor.”

“You just want to see me in uniform,” he grinned, crawling over to where she was laying.

“As if you’d make me ask twice,” she shot back.

He laughed softly as he settled beside her, looking up at Senex 7 as it seemed to drift past them, it’s giant purple rings glistening in the light of the solar system’s primary sun.

“So,” he said, “You know you have a room here, right? With a bed and a wardrobe and a little table with an adorable light on it? I think you call them bedrooms on Earth.”

“You know you’re not nearly as cute when you’re trying to be funny?” Despite the words and the raised eyebrow, there was a playful tone in her voice that he didn’t miss. 

“Why are you sleeping up here?”

“I’m not,” she shrugged, “I just like being up here, and it’s more comfortable with a pillow and a blanket. It reminds me of being in my mum’s conservatory at home, watching the rain under a duvet, with a cup of tea.”

Martha, the Martha he had met at the end of the universe, had worn her heart on her sleeve, impossibly to disguise what she feeling from her face. It had been honest, and endearing, and unbelievably human. After the year with the Master, she was different. They all were, it was to be expected. But where her smiles came wide and often, and her frustration, her indignance, her anger and her sorrow all played across her face as easily as breathing, it had all be replaced with something quiet. She still smiled, great, wide tooth-filled things that lit up a room along with that wild, reckless laugh. But she was slower to complain, pushing discomfort or sadness away without a thought. More guarded, definitely. Wise. Too wise for someone so young.

“Feel like I haven’t seen you in days.”

He kept his tone light but she looked at him with wide eyes and a knowing smile.

“Just ask it, Jack.”

Jack sighed, “Are you hiding up here because you’re uncomfortable with the Doctor and I… you know-”

“Shagging like rabbits all over the ship?” she finished with a grin, “No, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable, and I’m not hiding.”

“You mean it? I know how you’ve felt about him, and I’m not having you buried away in some corner of the ship, martyring yourself for this,” He reached between them to take her hand, interlacing their fingers. “Your feelings matter to me, you matter to me. And you matter to him, too. But just because he’s half blind to what’s in front of him doesn’t mean that I am, and I see you up here so much these days.”

Her face was steady and unreadable while he spoke, just the ghost of her smile and her patient eyes fixed on him. It was almost unnerving to watch the way she assessed him, but she just licked her lips nervously and dropped his hand, eyes turning to watch back out the glass before she spoke.

“When I first started travelling with the Doctor, all we did was run, and I thought to myself, ‘I will never get bored of this’. And it was true, in a way, because I love it, I love the running,” She smiled to herself, shifting on her side to face him, and tucking her hands under her head in an alarmingly vulnerable gesture. “But, then that year happened, and all I could do was run. And I realised, at the end, that I was… tired.”

Jack watched her silently.

“I think if that year taught me anything, it was to treasure the quiet moments, to look around at the universe and just-” Her eyes slipped closed for a second as she exhaled. “-just breathe. Rest your bones and your soul, so you don’t burn out.

“It’s hard to do that around him, and you as well. You’re both so… vibrant, so loud, you’re like fire. It’s so easy to get lost with you both, to forget that in the end, I’m just this human floating in an endless universe with so much in it. And, truthfully, that’s what made me realise how little you and the Doctor bother me.”

His confusion must have shown on his face. It was a considerably more philosophical answer than he had been expecting, although undeniably more positive.

“Space made you okay with being just friends?”

Martha laughed and shoved his shoulder playfully, “No, you ass. The universe is,” She gestured vaguely to the stars above them, “huge. And there’s so much to see and to do, and out of all of those planets and people, I’m here seeing it all. Not because of some favour owed or a party trick, but because he loves me, Jack.”

Her voice went soft and quiet, almost solemn, towards the end. But she was smiling, and that was good enough for him. Jack reached out to cup her face, and she beamed.

“I love him, and I love you, and I know you both love me, and I get to travel the universe with you both,” She shrugged as if her confession didn’t feel like absolution, like warmth rushing over his entire being. “Kinda puts some crush into perspective.”

He watched her for a short time, her honesty and her spirit, her wisdom and her smile. 

“Probably for the best. You’re miles out of his league.”

Her face split with a grin, “I know.”


End file.
